


from angels or devils

by Dylanobrienisbatman



Series: Chopped Challenge Fics [11]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Based on a TV show, F/F, Forehead Touching, Gen, Parallel Universes, Reunion, Science Fiction, Time Travel, Warrior Nun AU, lite Costia/Lexa, parallel dimensions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:40:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25300273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dylanobrienisbatman/pseuds/Dylanobrienisbatman
Summary: Octavia was dead, and then she wasn't. The nuns say it was the gift of an angel, but they may not know as much as they claim.Will she be able to learn to channel it's gifts, or will she be claimed by the villain who has followed the Halo through time and space?
Series: Chopped Challenge Fics [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1652851
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8
Collections: Chopped 3.0 Round 2





	from angels or devils

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for Chopped 3.0 Round 2! 
> 
> Theme: Sci-Fi  
> Tropes: (1) Based on a tv show (I chose the new Netflix series Warrior Nun), (2) Kiss to keep a secret, (3) Reunion, and (4) Forehead touch! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy, and go give the other awesome fics in this event a read!

“Poor dear, so young, and to be lost to us so soon.” Father Lemkin pronounced solemnly over the dead girl before him, looking down at her cold form with a sadden expression. 

“A devil among us.” Sneered Sister Abigail Griffin, pulling her lips back in a grimace. “A menace on all who knew her.” 

“Now sister,” Father Lemkin gently chided, “It is our duty now to forgive her, for she can no longer ask for our forgiveness.” 

As Sister Abigail looked down over the girls body before her, her lip curled in a fearsome grin. 

“Let her burn.” She responded, and turned away from the girl and walked out into the night. 

She did not see the group of young women, in habits and chain mail, rushing another girl, who was herself very close to death, into the church. 

~

“HELP US!!!!” The scream echoed through the lofty hall of the cathedral. “FATHER WE NEED HELP!” 

Lexa, her voice ragged, carried half the weight of Sister Costia into the bowels of the church, with Sister Raven along at her side. 

They deposited the body of Sister Costia onto the table, when Father Lemkin and a young, but determined young nun followed behind, her stark white apron covering her habit as she pulled on gloves and pushed them aside. 

“Divinium.” panted Raven, pressing her hands into her knees as she caught her breath.

“And a lot of it.” Sister Gaia’s voice came loud from the hall as she rounded the corner, a crossbow leveled at the door. 

“There was an explosion.” Lexa spoke in fragments, tears flowing freely down her cheeks as she gripped Costia’s hand close. “Whoever did it, they knew what they were doing. Explosives like this?” She looked Father Lemkin in the eye, and she knew he knew, even before she said it aloud. “This is how you kill a Warrior Nun, Father.” 

“You know what we need to do.” Sister Gaia’s voice was sharp and direct, never taking her eyes from the door. 

“Shut up.” Lexa shouted. “You just wan-” 

Costia groaned from the table, and Lexa turned, leaving her words for Sister Gaia hanging in the air. 

“She’s right.”

“We can fix this.” She whispered, looking up at the Nun tending to the carnage and then over at Raven. Neither of them said a word, but the look in their eyes was enough. 

This was beyond their ability. 

“It’ll heal her.” She whispered, looking pleadingly at Sister Raven, but she knew. 

She looked down, staring at the splinters of shimmering green protruding from her wounds, the blood around them turning black on contact. 

She knelt, gripping Costia’s hand. 

Costia looked up at the nurse, and nodded. 

“Take it out.” She whispered, her voice strained. 

The nun turned her gently onto her side, and Lexa cradled her head, tucking Costia’s face in close and pressing a light kiss onto the tip of her chin.

“Take this.” Costia whispered, lifting her hand to denote the massive silver ring she wore. Lexa slid it from her finger gently before pressing their foreheads together, their noses brushing ever so slightly, as a tear dropped from Lexa’s cheek and splashed across the bridge of Costia’s nose.

“Lexa,” She sighed, her voice fading fast. 

“Yes?” 

“Don’t trust anyone.” Her voice was so quiet that Lexa barely heard her, even so close. This was intentional, she knew.

“I love you.” Costia whispered, holding eye contact. 

“I love you too.” Lexa whispered, holding her close. 

The nurse took a long metal probe and inserted it directly into the middle of Costia’s upper back, but Costia was so lost she barely made a whimper at the pain. She dug around harshly for a moment, before removing a glowing ring, about the size of a teacup, with an opening on one side, that had been clasped around her spine. Long tendrils danced from it, and it shone brilliantly in the dark. 

Lexa felt Costia sigh, and pressed a kiss into the corner of her mouth as her body went limp in her arms. 

“Are you the next bearer?” The nurse asked. 

“No…” Lexa could barely speak, stroking over Costia’s face gently. “Gaia-”

Before she could finish, an explosion blew the wall from the back of the room out, with rubble and smoke filling the air before she could even react.

Everything went black. 

~

_“Forgive me child” whispered the nurse as she inserted the glowing ring into the body lying across the cold metal table._

_She turned, met with the angry face of a man, but not quite a man._

_He reached his arm out across the space between them, and she felt the blood of life pouring across her chest before she felt the slice across her neck._

_With her last bit of strength, she shoved the metal probe still in her hand into his eye socket, and they both came crashing down together._

~

She woke up screaming. 

Not that hadn’t ever happened before, but usually it was a nightmare that caused the scream to rip through her chest and out her mouth. 

This was different. 

A blinding pain, so horrible and overwhelming she was sure she-

Might… die… from it. 

As her mind caught up with the physical reaction of her body to the searing, white hot pain coming from the middle of her back and wrapping itself around her body like long tentacles, she felt… glee. Glee mixed with fear. A strange combination to be sure. 

She looked down at her body, realizing for the first time that she was in what appeared to be a body bag, but all she could focus on were her toes. 

Wiggling away. 

She pushed herself up off the cold metal table, revelling in the ability of her body to move at her very thought, no effort or struggle necessary to get it to do what she asked. 

Octavia Blake had been a quadreplegic for almost 13 years. She had been in a car crash at age 7, where her brother had died, and it had left her confined to a bed. She had been passed off from orphanage to orphanage, too much of a burden on anyone and everyone to stay long, until she found herself in an orphanage run by the Catholic Church. She had spent the better part of a decade laying on a bed at the cruel whim of Sister Abigail Griffin, who seemed to think her very existence was a curse on the Sister personally. 

And now, as she sat up straight on a table and moved her arms and legs freely, she wondered if this was the Hell that Sister Abigail had always promised her she’d find after she died. 

If so, fuck heaven. She could _walk_ here.

She could _DANCE!!_ Run! Swim! The idea of climbing hundreds of stairs right this moment sounded like the most fun she’d ever had in her life. 

She was so busy revelling in her newfound ability that she hadn’t yet noticed the dead body of a young nun, and the slowly moving body of a man, but not quite a man, who should have been dead too. 

She noticed when he shot her though. 

The bullet passed through her arm and scraped her ribcage as it barely missed her body, and she screamed in pain, turning to see the figure moving towards her, his eyes glowing red, rimmed with black lines that seemed to travel across his skin like veins. 

Fuck.

She just got a second chance at life and she was about to get shot by some fucking asshole who didn’t know how to put on eyeliner. 

She swung herself around, testing the strength of her legs as she planted her feet on the cold stone floor, smiling despite her fear when she stood tall and strong. 

But the man was still coming towards her, limping and dragging himself along, like his body wasn’t at one with his mind. 

She had meant to run, to get as far from whatever this was as she could, but he was on her before she knew it, and suddenly… 

He was across the room. 

She had shoved him, and he had gone flying, slamming into the hard stone walls so forcefully that dust shook loose from the crevices in the rock. As she watched, a black cloud of smoke seemed to pour out of him, from his eyes, his ears, his mouth, even his nose. It grew and grew, so large it might have filled the room, and she felt frozen with fear until something took hold.

She grabbed the heavy poker that was on the ground from the nurses grip and swung it hard, somehow making contact with something solid within the cloud of smoke. With a screaming sound, that somehow sounded like it was miles away, the cloud grew rigid, and then turned to dust at her feet. 

She didn’t waste any time wondering or pondering, she just ran. Out the door and down the long stone hall, out through the high halls of the church and into the crisp autumn night. 

And she just kept running. 

She barely noticed that the bullet wound had already closed.

~ 

She realised pretty quickly that the hospital dressing gown she had been put in after her death was not going to work in this new world she had found herself in. Lucky for her, she passed a garden with dresses hanging out to dry.

The ground was rough on her bare feet, and she revelled in the feeling of the rocks poking harshly at her soles. She wandered through the city, the cool spanish air breathing new life into her with every inhale, letting herself spin round and move with the breeze, blowing her whatever direction it felt best. 

The night sky was dark and covered in stars, the half moon hanging bright just a little above the horizon. But the lights that drew her were the lights of the city, the hanging warm yellow light of the bulbs that were strung above the gardens. The lamps standing tall in the streets. 

The sounds and music that travelled through the city streets drew her in further, until she found a bar that was out on the beach in the sand. 

Perfect, since she had no shoes. 

She wandered over, suddenly aware that she had no money, but it didn’t matter. The music danced across the ocean, blending with the crashing waves and the voices of the people dancing, and she was captivated. 

She let herself float across the sand into the mass of dancing bodies, and fell into a rhythm with the group, swirling and spinning and moving to the sound of the music as it itself danced off the water. 

A tall, beautiful girl was looking at her from her seat at the bar, and Octavia felt her insides heat up and turn to mush. 

Octavia had never really thought about who she might like, spending her whole life in a bed she never really gave herself a chance to imagine, but… this girl. She knew this was what it was meant to feel like. That thrill of locking eyes with a beautiful stranger and knowing they were thinking the same thing you were. 

She made her way across the sand until she was leaning against the bar next to her. The girls eyes followed her all the way. 

“I’m Echo.” She said, loud over the music. 

“Octavia.” 

“Can I buy you a drink, Octavia?” 

“I’m not sure what I like.” She said, and the statement felt huge. She wasn’t sure about anything at all. 

Instead of questioning, the girl just smiled and ordered something that Octavia couldn’t hear, passing her the light purple drink with a smile. 

“Lavender syrup, gin, lime juice. Tastes basically like juice.” The girl said as Octavia studied the cup. She took a sip and grinned. 

“It’s delicious!” 

“Good!” Echo said with a smile, leaning close across the space between the bar stools, rocky on the sand. 

She spoke, and Octavia listened in rapture. She was a student, Canadian, studying politics and global studies in Paris, but she’d taken a weekend to come to Spain. 

“You’ve been so many places, I’ve never been anywhere.” 

“Well you’ve got plenty of time.” 

“Where should I go, I wouldn’t even know where to go?” 

“Wherever you want. Just point to a place on the map and go there.” 

The idea danced before Octavia’s eyes, tantalizing and luring her out into the wide, wide world. 

Just as she was about to latch onto the idea and let it grow and morph into something tangible, she heard them. 

“We’re looking for a girl, brown hair, grey eyes. She’s a charge at our monastery, a troubled girl. She ran off with no shoes and everything.” 

Octavia looked down at her bare feet, panic rising in her chest. 

Echo seemed to sense the fear.

“You alright?” She asked, glancing over at the two women holding a picture up to a patron of the bar. 

“No... “ Her breath was coming quick in her chest, her eyes frantic as she looked around, praying that no one they asked had noticed her. “Those girls, they’re looking for me. I’m not a charge, I don’t live at their monastery… I-” 

“Kiss me.”

This made Octavia pause. 

“What?” 

“If they’re looking for some lost charge, some crazed girl, they won’t be looking for someone kissing at a bar. Kiss me.” 

Octavia probably should have asked more questions, or debated the idea a little at least, but instead she just leaned forward and kissed her.

She’d never been kissed before, and she couldn’t help it. Echo was beautiful, and kind. Part of her knew it was only an offer to help, but it almost didn’t matter. She let herself pretend it was more. 

Echo’s lips were soft, and tasted like a whisper of the whiskey sour she’d been sipping. She had always worried that if she ever kissed anyone, she’d be lost as to what to do, but it felt as easy as breathing to reach her hand up and thread her fingers into Echo’s soft bob and to open her lips just a little to kiss her soundly. 

Echo smiled into the kiss, stepping down off her barstool to stand between her knees and cup her face, holding her close. She smelled like rosemary and jasmine, and it was intoxicating. 

She expected her to pull away at any moment, but Echo just kept kissing her, and Octavia wondered if this was what it was supposed to feel like. 

Eventually she pulled back, staying so close their noses were brushing, and smiled at her. 

“My place isn’t far from here..” She ran her fingers gently up Octavia’s arms and lifted her chin gently with her pointer finger. 

“I wouldn’t want to-”

“I’m offering.” 

Echo stepped away and held out her hand. The girls that had been looking for her were nowhere to be seen, and she couldn’t see much past the soft gaze Echo was levelling at her, and so she reached out and gripped her hand tightly, led away into the busy night. 

Echo’s place was a hotel room with a gorgeous view, a soft bed, and warm lighting, and Octavia felt her heartbeat in her fingertips and butterflies in her stomach. 

“We don’t have to…” Echo glanced over at the bed, and Octavia felt braver, even just a little, seeing Echo’s nervousness too. “Whatever you like, is all.” 

“No.” Octavia felt brave. Echo was beautiful, and she made her feel safe. The bed was welcoming, and she felt heat spreading across her chest and all over. “I want.” 

She held out a hand, and Echo met her in the middle, and they fell into the soft white bed together, the sound of the ocean and the chatter of the city swirling around them as they explored skin and traded kisses well into the dark of night. 

She woke early, the sun barely over the horizon. Echo still lay sleeping at her side, the cool light dancing through the open window. She wrote a small note on the hotel paper, just a thank you and a goodbye, and tugged her dress down over her head and walked out into the morning. 

Wandering the streets, she was suddenly aware she was lost and had no idea where to go, and so she just kept walking, and walking, until she rounded a corner and came to face to face with one of the girls from the night before. 

Her dark skin was almost glowing in the morning light, her navy habit framing her face, she stood, her hands clasped behind her back as she held a strong stance. 

“You should stop running girl.”

“Fat chance of that.” Octavia snarled, stepping back close to the corner, but the girl raised a crossbow and leveled it at her. 

“You have something that belongs to me.”

“What?”

** 

_“You mean to tell me that woman put my birthright in the body of a nonbeliever?” Gaia’s fury poured out of her mouth like venom._

_“Sister Gaia, we must not speak in anger.” Mother Anya soothed, taking her hand. “There is a plan for all, and this girl is a part of that.”_

_“She has the Halo, Mother.” Gaia said, her voice still angry, but the energy coming off her was calmer somehow, and she let Mother Anya stroke her hand gently, breathing slowly to calm herself. Once she had allowed herself to calm, she spoke again._

_“If we do not get it back, he will come for it and she will not be able to keep it safe.”_

_“Sister Gaia is right.” Sister Raven said pointedly, earning her a look of surprise. “If he returns, all will be lost, Mother.”_

_Mother Anya looked pensive, rubbing her fingers into her temples in slow circles. Finally she spoke again._

_“You must bring her here alive, Sister. The Halo brought her back from death. As we all know, it can reject it’s new keeper if she is deemed unworthy of its power, but this girl… I have never heard of this before. It is a gift, and it must be trusted.”_

_“The Halo… chose her?” Sister Harper asked, incredulous._

_“We cannot claim to know His plan, Sisters.”_

_“I will find her.” Sister Gaia spoke firmly, and stood. “I will bring the Halo back, and we can determine how much we trust its decisions then.”_

_She left before they could speak a word._

_**_

Octavia stared down the point of the arrow, her eyes wide. 

“Thats mine.” The nun said sharply, pointing the arrow down at her sternum. 

“What’s yours?” 

“The Halo.” 

“The what?!”

At this, the nun lowered her weapon and scoffed in irritation, rolling her eyes. 

“You thought you came back from the dead all on your own?” She laughed harshly. “Nah. In your back, the Halo has brought you back.” 

“You’re stark mad.” 

The girl raised her crossbow again, pointing it at her chest. 

“It’s mine.”

“Well, if it’s in me, what makes you think it’s yours?” 

“My family has produced 6 keepers. My mother was the keeper before Costia, and I am next in line.”

“Sorry to steal your thunder.” 

The girl snarled and dropped the crossbow, pulling a curved sword from her belt and swinging hard at her. 

“If you wont give it, I’ll take it then.” 

She was swinging when a loud crash came from behind her, and a monster the likes of which Octavia had never seen seemed to emerge from a hole hung on the air itself. 

Gaia turned to see it, and then spun.

“Run.” She said harshly, but Octavia was frozen still. “Run, if it gets you all will be lost.” 

So she ran, ran listening to the Sister’s yelling as she fought, ran until it turned to screams and she stopped dead in her tracks. She turned in time to see the Monster lift the Sister high above it, blood still pouring from her wound, and throw her into the air and through the hole in the fabric of the worlds. 

She stood shellshocked in fear until the monster turned on her. 

She turned to run, and, just as suddenly as she thought that there is no way she could escape, she pushed off the ground and sprung high into the air.

She shrieked aloud her arms flailing as she tried to find purchase in the open air, until she landed atop a building. 

She stumbled and fell, rolling and turning head over feet, coming to land a few yards away. She stood and ran, never once stopping to look back.

She ran through the morning, and kept running until her feet wouldn’t carry her anymore. She leapt to a roof with lush green ivy and coverings to keep shade and curled up and fell asleep instantly. 

Her dreams were not quiet or calm.

**

_“A poor dear, so soon you’ll be out on your own, a crippled bastard child out on the streets. Who will care for you then?” Sister Abigail sneered over her as she readied the syringe. “This is a mercy, you vile child.”_

_She inserted the needle into Octavia’s arm, painless due to her condition, though not for lack of trying on the Sister’s part, and she felt the darkness growing around her._

_**_

She woke from her dream in a fright, and she must have been asleep for hours, as she found herself in the cool of the late evening, but she had slept so fitfully that she didn’t feel rested at all. 

She opened her eyes to find a girl sitting on the rooftop with her, and her hands and feet bound. 

~

“Let me go!!” Octavia yelled, for what was likely the 10th time, as the girl who had called herself Lexa carried her over her shoulder like a ragdoll through the doors of the monastery.

She carried her through the grand hall and dropped her unceremoniously onto her backside on the cold stone floor. 

“Where is Gaia?” She asked without pomp or circumstance. 

Octavia stilled at this, and Lexa saw.

“What, what happened?” 

“She… she came for me.”

“We already know that.” 

Octavia just glared. 

“If you’d let me finish!” 

Lexa raised her hands and let her speak. 

“She came for me. She was going to fight me for… the halo? Or something?” Octavia ran her bound hands over her face. “She was coming for me, and some… monster… appeared. From the air itself. And it took her and threw her back… back where it came from. I dont know.” 

“She’s been dragged to hell!?” A soft voice from the back spoke up, and a ruckus of hushed whispers echoed through the hall. 

“We don’t know that.” Lexa said firmly, and the voices quieted. 

“No matter.” A voice said from the door, and every sister turned to face the woman standing in the frame. 

“Mother.” They all said in respectful tones, and a loud hush fell over the room. 

“Gaia was meant to take the Halo, and be its keeper, but it is within you now, my child.” 

“I don’t want it, you can take it back.” 

“If we take it, you will surely die.” Her face was stern, and it made Octavia shiver. She said nothing. 

“You must become the true keeper, you must learn to control the Halo.” 

“And if I say no?” 

“Then the world will be lost.” Mother Anya said firmly, and Octavia felt like someone had laid a heavy weight on her shoulders. 

“You should rest, child, and we will begin your training in the morning.” 

Before she could argue, she was lifted from the chair and the ties on her feet were cut, and Lexa led her to a room down the long halls of the monastery. 

The room had clearly been long lived in. Books and trinkets lined the shelves and the top of the desk. A long necklace hung down on the foot of the bed, shimmering even in the late even dark. A photo of Lexa and a lovely girl with deep brown skin and kinky curls that peaked out from the edges of her habit.

“Costia.” Lexa said quietly, avoiding the image, staring at the wall blankly. “The last Halo Keeper.” 

“This was her room? I can’t-”

“It won’t be of much use to her now.” There was an ache in Lexa’s voice that was unmistakable. 

“She was important to you.” 

Lexa stayed silent for a while, and then looked up to the ceiling, a tear tracing from her cheekbone down and off her jaw, falling as if in slow motion to splash against the stone floor. 

“Yes.” Was all she said, and Octavia knew she wouldn’t say more. She didn’t need to.

“She died for that thing inside you. Her life was dedicated to this cause, the protection of that thing in your back.” Lexa looked her straight in the eye, and the fury and sadness that Octavia saw there was enough to shake her to her bones. “If you will not stand for what she died for, I won’t stop them from cutting you down to get it out and put it in someone who will.” 

She closed the door firmly behind her without another word, and Octavia let out a long breath. 

She stood a moment and turned about, taking in the room. She shuffled through the doors, found a closet full of clean and pressed Habit’s, flipped through pages and pages of the books haphazardly across the room, on every flat surface, even stacked on the floor. 

At a point, the day felt long and she fell into the bed, and fell asleep. 

Her dreams were fitfull again, memories she hadn’t even known she had. Sister Abigail drugging her, time after time, until the poison in her blood was too high. Murderer. Vile old woman. 

She woke in a cold sweat again, and felt tears trickle down from the corners of her eyes. She had dreamed of Bellamy too, of the crash, and the anger inside her felt bigger and more ferocious than ever before. 

So when the sister entered to bring her to start her training, she stood willingly and followed. 

She entered the training room and Mother Anya passed her a long staff with a stern but pleasant smile.

“Welcome to the Order of the Angel’s Will.” 

~

The training went on and on, for days Octavia would fall asleep with her muscles aching, but she was a quick learner. 

On a day almost three weeks after her arrival, she was brought before Mother Anya. 

“You have learned much in these last weeks, Octavia. We are grateful for your commitment.”

“Well, you didn’t give me much choice.” 

“But now,” Mother Anya continued, “It is time for you to learn to enter the Halo itself.” 

“I’m sorry,” Octavia said, quite sure she had misheard, “to do what?” 

“The Halo is a magical item, it holds the memories and conscious of the past Keepers within it. If you learn to access it, you may gain their wisdom.” 

“And how do I do that?”

“With the Phrase of Saints. Passed down by the Angel Behkah herself.” 

“I’ve never heard of a Behkah before.” 

“She is the angel who gifted us the Halo, she gave it to the first Keeper nearly 500 years ago. She was kept secret, the most revered Angel of our Order. Ever since she delivered it us, we have fought the Devil himself, who follows it and tries to steal it from our Order, to use it against the world for evil.” 

Mother Anya patted a book gently before opening it to a page towards the back with scribbles and chicken scratch in the margins. 

“When you speak the passcode, you will enter the Halo. It will be… well… for every Keeper I have mentored it has been a different experience. Prepare yourself for anything by entering with a calm mind and a clear heart.” 

She turned the book and pointed to a phrase scrawled in the corner of the page. 

“quia nunc vale.” She spoke, clunky latin, and all of a sudden she felt as if she was being thrown back, her soul flying from her body and out of the monastery, slamming itself down into a large and airy chapel. 

The girl from the picture in the room stood before her. 

“It’s nice to meet you, my name is Costia.” 

~

“What the fuck?” 

“Language.” The girl chided, but playfully. “Welcome to the Halo, Octavia Blake.” 

She almost asked how this girl knew her name, but part of her understood already. 

They were inside her mind. 

“We don’t have much time, but I must tell you the truth.”

“The truth?” 

“Yes. The Order, they believe this to be an angel’s gift to us, but it was not an Angel.” 

“I don’t understand.” 

“I will show you.” 

She was thrown out of the room and into a most foreig place. 

A stark white laboratory, that was impressive enough before she turned around and faced the window. 

“Holy shit.” 

She stared out the window and over the planet itself. 

“It’s almost complete.” A voice said excitedly from behind her, and she turned to find a petite woman, dark hair falling haphazardly from where it was tied back, pieces hanging in her eyes as she worked tirelessly. On her lab coat the name “Dr. Becca Franko” was sewn in bold block lettering. 

“Becca.” She said aloud, but the woman did not turn. 

She turned, holding a glowing circle with an opening one end out in front of her. 

The Halo. 

A man came into the room, a tall greying figure. 

She watched as they spoke, and the talking grew to arguing. Something about the duty of the Halo, and what it could be used for. 

Everything he said sounded vaguely fascist to Octvaia, but she continued listening. 

She watched as the story seemed to cover days in mere moments, and she learned.

The Halo was a piece of AI technology, built to integrate with the human neurological system, able to interface with it. It could heal, could give super strength and other abilities, if the user knew how to properly utilize its power. But, even more important, it enhanced the cognitive abilities of the user. 

Becca, who was already a brilliant mind, had used it to develop time travel. 

The man, Bill Cadogen she had learned, wanted to use it to try and open portals to other worlds, but Becca had refused him. 

She hadn’t trusted him, had been sure he would betray the duty of the Keeper, and so she had stolen it away. 

** 

_The machine was loud, but it didn’t matter. Becca stepped closer and climbed into the seat, punching the numbers hurriedly. At the door of the lab, loud voices grew closer and closer._

_“Fucking hell Bill.” She muttered to herself as she punched away, and settled in as the machine roared to life._

_She watched as the door opened just in time for Bill Cadogen to watch her disappear before his eyes._

_She fell from the sky, only a few feet above the ground, and landed in a pile, the Halo still firmly grasped in her hand. She stood after a few moments, and ran towards the tower that stood tall above her._

_Inside she found nuns._

_She held up the glowing Halo in surrender, an offering of peace to the clearly frightened nuns._

_“Sister’s I have come from-”_

_“From the heavens!” Exclaimed a woman, running in after her. “She appeared from the sky, in a glowing light. An angel!” She pointed to the Halo, as if it offered proof of Becca’s godliness._

_“I need someone to protect this gift, I ask you please, Sister’s, is there one fierce and strong among you, who may act as a warrior and wield this strength?”_

_A woman stepped forward from the crowd. She wore no habit, no cross, but the nuns parted to let her through._

_“I am called Diyoza, and, if you shall have me, I shall bear your gift, Angel.”_

_“I am called Becca.” She said quietly, and looked harshly upon Diyoza._

_A tall woman, and clearly strong, she stood proud amongst the nuns._

_“Who are you, what is your cause?” Becca asked, and a nun from behind her spoke up._

_“She is our protector. Our defender. She keeps us safe from the men who would try to enter our monastery and... “ Becca held up her hand._

_“A worthy Keeper, then.” She took Diyoza by the hand and led her away. In a dark room, in the back of the monastery, she spoke._

_“I come from another place, not the heavens. This, it will be a gift, but also a curse. A man, he will come for it. You must protect it. Someday, I will look for it in my own time.”_

_To Diyoza’s credit, she looked no less confused than Octavia felt._

_Becca turned Diyoza around and in a swift motion, thrust the Halo into her back. Diyoza screamed in horrible pain, but it lasted only a moment._

_Screams came from the chapel, and they ran to find Bill Cadogen before them, a nun held by the hair beneath her habit._

_**_

“It’s tech?!!” Octavia exclaimed. 

“Yes.”

“But the nuns…”

“I was given the Halo after I had been a nun for a long while. To reveal this secret would be to be labeled a heretic, and cast out. And to destroy the faith of my Order. But now, you must tell them the truth. They must protect themselves, and they can’t do that with this lie they have been led to believe. Find Dr. Josephine Lightbourne, she will know how to help.” 

“What do I do?” 

“Becca came from the future, 2152. In time, she will visit you when you enter the Halo. But it is not the time, and we can’t wait. Bill Cadogen, he follows her. When the Halo is passed to a new Keeper, he can sense its power, and he follows it. He has done so for the last 500 years, and there is no doubt he will continue to do so. He has grown more powerful and more sure of his ability to defeat the Halo…” 

“He’s the one who killed you.” Costia nodded. “The girls told me, Divinium, they called it.” 

“It reacts with the tech in the Halo, turns your blood black, poisons you from the inside. It’s all we’ve seen that can kill a Halo Keeper.” 

“What do I do?” 

“We must part, dear one, but find Dr. Josephine. We met many times during my time as Keeper. She will know what to do.”  
Before she could speak, Costia wrapped her in a hug.

“Tell Lexa I love her, please.” She whispered, and Octavia was flung from the room and back into her own body again. 

“What did she tell you?” Mother Anya asked. 

Octavia looked up from her hands, clasped tightly in her lap, and nodded. 

“We will need all the Sister’s here.” 

The news wasn’t taken well, coming of no surprise, but she watched as Sister Raven’s eyes lit up at the news, and Lexa smiled in a way that made her think Costia had not kept it quite as secret as she claimed. 

No one spoke for a while, until Mother Anya stood up. 

“While this news may make you question your faith, girls, it is not the end. For whether she was an angel or not, God brought her to us. This is our honorable fight, and we must continue to fight it.” 

She turned to face Octavia, and there was no doubt in her eyes. 

“We must find this Doctor, immediately. 

~ 

“EXCELLENT!” Shouted Dr. Lightbourne, a crazed look in her eyes. “Yes, Costia came to me many times, we worked together to study the Halo and its abilities. It’s quite fascinating.” She spoke so fast she tripped over her words. “Time Travel, parallel dimensions, alternate universes… it’s incredible!” 

“We need to find a way to defeat him. Bill Cadogen.” 

“Yes yes, I know. Defeat the madman, save the world, whatever.” The way she spoke made Octavia think maybe saving the world seemed low on her list of priorities. 

She was after the technology, the knowledge and secrets it gave. Whatever means necessary, Octavia knew that Josephine would do whatever she could to get it. 

“How can we… what can we do, Dr. Lightbourne?”

“Oh please, call me Josie.” The crazed blonde exclaimed, barely looking up from her books and notes. “Let’s get started.”

They watched as she flipped through her pages of books and notes, finally finding what she was looking for. 

“With Costia,” She began without preamble, “we studied the Halo. We believe, and I’d say rightfully, that we can predict when his next jump will be based on the wormholes he’s creating!” 

“The what?” 

Sister Raven piped up from the corner, where she had been drinking in pages of Dr. Josephine’s books in the corner all on her own.

“He creates time dilations and instability in the time stream when he jumps.” She says, as if it’s fact. 

They all stared at her. 

“Costia brought me a few times. I am a scientist, after all.” Before anyone could question, she pressed on. “When he jumps the wormholes he’s been creating all these centuries fluctuate. It happens moments before and moments after, and it allows the “demons” we see to come through between worlds. If we track the time dilations, we can predict when he will come. When he jumps, he doesn’t land immediately. From when he initiates the sequence, we have about two hours. He usually lands right around where the Halo is, so we won’t have to go looking for him. He never stays long, I don’t think he’s able to, but last time he was here he killed Costia, so we must fight for our lives.” 

"Wait, he creates _wormholes?"_

"Yes." Raven said sharply, continuing on quickly. "The wormholes cut through to other dimensions. Thats where the monsters and 'demons' come from. His travel is creating rips in the fabric of space time, allowing beings not from this world to cross into it."

"And the Halo Keeper can fight them because?"

"Because the tech within the Halo gives them the ability. It's so far beyond my ability, Becca was... is... will be a genius above even her time, and thats 130 years from now even. Something about the tech... I dont honestly know."

"If Raven is admitting she doesn't know, its beyond us all." Sister Harper whisper quietly, and everyone nodded.

“When was the last time dilation?” Octavia asked, pressing on.

“After the Halo is passed, he gets a signal from it. We dont know how he plans his jumps, but we will be waiting for him when he does.” 

Josie was flitting through her pages and pages of notes hurriedly, and grinning with a feral madness. 

“What did Costia promise you?” Octavia asked, and the room fell into a hush. 

“What?” She asked, her voice suddenly sharp and angry. 

“Costia, when you worked with her, I doubt you would have agreed to help her out of the good of our heart.” She said with a sneer. “What did she promise you?” 

Josie stayed silent, and the room felt like it was ringing with the quiet. 

“She promised that if I was able to help her defeat Cadogen, she would give me the Halo next.” 

“WHAT?!?” Lexa exclaimed, yanking a knife from her belt. 

“NO!” Sister Harper yelled, pulling her own knife from the belt of her habit as well. Octavia couldn’t help but smile. 

“I make no such promise.”

“Then find him on your own.” Josie shrugged. “If there is nothing in this for me, why would I help you?”

Octavia somehow was sure that “then the world will end” wouldn’t do much to persuade her. 

Lexa turned to her, anger seething from within.

“Costia would never have… I can’t believe…” 

“Fine.” Octavia said loudly, over the ruckus. 

The nuns all turned to her, fury on their faces, but she stepped in front of them. 

With her fingers crossed behind her back, she smiled at Josie. 

“You help us win, I’ll give you the Halo.” 

As Josie studied the timestream and the dilations with fervor, the day felt like it went on forever, and Octavia was filled with anxiety. 

Raven and Lexa had cornered her while Josie was to busy to notice, after her false promise, and she had assured them that Josie was a threat they could handle once they had stopped Cadogen. 

As the hours drug on, she wondered how she would ever be ready to face a man who had fought a Halo Keeper so many times , until Josie yelled loudly from her lab. 

“A dilation!! Just here!” She pointed at the screen, clearly excited about something. Raven seemed equally excited, but the rest of them sat in confusion. 

“Well?” 

“It’s a wormhole… it’s opening just there.” She pointed to the screen, and a small blip grew larger and larger as the seconds ticked by. “It should… be… here?” 

Suddenly, behind them, as if from the air itself, a burning fire carved a circle through space in the room, and out fell a person. 

But not Cadogen, or any man at all. 

“ _Gaia!?!”_ A voice from the room exclaimed, but Octavia didn’t know who had spoken, as they all rushed forward to her, lifting her from the ground and fussing over her.

The girls lifted her up until Sister Gaia stood before them. 

**\----------**

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

**Author's Note:**

> I ended up rushing this a lot so i'm not sure how much i like it, but i might continue it later on. Hope you enjoyed it for what it is!


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